The Pureblood Prince
by spoons are for marmalade skies
Summary: The deleted scenes of HP6: Dobby spies on all our favourite characters as they struggle with school, sex, and the Dark Lord... there may even be an undercover relationship or two! Because Draco wouldn't be Draco without a bit of sneaking around. R
1. Chapter 1: Birthday Surprises

Chapter One: Birthday Surprises

"If there's one thing I hate more than house-elves," Draco Malfoy said, "it's Harry Potter."

Draco was sprawled on a couch in the Slytherin common room, his feet in Pansy Parkinson's lap and a textbook balanced on his chest. He was scowling darkly at the fire. Dobby had been waiting to clean out the grate for some time now, but Draco and his pretty girlfriend showed no signs of retiring.

"If Snape were still Potions master things would be different," Draco went on. "Potter wouldn't have got away with that bezoar trick with _him_."

"Slughorn's a prat," Pansy said. "And so is Potter. You needn't bother with them."

"I needn't! Well that solves that, doesn't it?" Draco said sarcastically. "You know better, Pan, he's up to his usual tricks. He's been following me." His scowl relaxed into a thoughtful frown. "I wonder…?"

"What?"

"Nothing." Draco pressed his mouth into a thin line, as though trying to keep from telling her; but it was no use, for a moment later he burst out, "He can't know, can he?"

"Draco," Pansy said, sounding frustrated, "_I_ don't know what you're always on about, so if _Potter_ does I'll go find him right now and ask him what –"

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Draco muttered. "Give it a rest, I'm not going to tell you."

"Then stop going on about it! You're always rambling on about this goddamn project. How am I supposed to help if you…"

Draco and Pansy often fought like this. Dobby had tried stopping his ears at first, but after the first few rows he gave up and listened. He, too, wanted to know what his old master was up to. It made his blood boil to think how Draco spoke of Harry– Dobby wished he were able to help, but Draco did nothing but complain, never said anything that might give away his plans. Also, Draco knew that Dobby would help Harry if he could, so he had strictly forbade Dobby from telling.

Draco and Pansy were winding up their argument now; Pansy was calling names, which meant that Draco would storm off soon.

"If you would stop harping I could think –"

"All you do is think about yourself, you whining, snivelling –"

"I don't have to take this," Draco said, standing. "You don't know anything about me."

"Because you won't talk to me! Draco, please," Pansy pleaded, catching at his robes, "please let me help you."

Draco's lip curled. She dropped her hands and looked for support from Blaise Zabini, who had just entered. Finally she sighed. "Never mind. Good night, Draco."

"Good night, Pansy." He swept away, making no sign that he had seen Blaise's pleasant nod.

Blaise sat next to Pansy, rubbing a comforting palm down her thigh. "What's the problem?"

"Oh, you know what he's been like," Pansy said. "I can't think of a single way this will work out."

Blaise leaned back, fixing his eyes on her. "You mean his plans?"

"Any of this! Draco and his big ideas, they were always going to get him in trouble. As if he'll make any difference to the Dark Lord," she said scornfully.

"I'd say that a bit softer if I were you," Blaise said. "Malfoy's not been gone long."

"Draco can stuff it for all I care!" Pansy snarled. "I'm going to bed."

"Would you like a cup of tea first? You're not going to get any sleep, you're in a state," Blaise commented, watching her critically. "Let me call a house-elf for you."

"No," Pansy said, "I'm going to go talk to Draco."

"I'll get him for you." Blaise stood and stretched. "Where will you meet him?"

"I don't care, so long as it's got a Silencing Charm on it."

Blaise nodded. "Go to the classroom at the end of the hall. He'll be there soon."

Pansy hesitated, and then went out. Dobby waited until Draco had followed her before he left his hiding place. As he scrubbed he thought very hard. Even if he couldn't speak to Harry about this, he might just visit the Gryffindor common room tomorrow night. There was more snooping to do.

OxOxO

Dobby was unable to get a shift in the Gryffindor tower. One of the senior house-elves decided he preferred bedsheets to books, so he assigned Dobby to the library. Dobby knew he would be bored stiff and talked Winky into accompanying him.

"Winky is not wanting to do this," Winky moaned as she clambered onto a bookshelf, gripping her duster. "The kitchen needs Winky, she is not liking it here. There is bad things in this place." She cast a black look at the Restricted Section.

"Winky knows she will do better to come here," Dobby said fiercely. "It is helping you to get off the bottle. Butterbeer is expensive to Professor Dumbledore!" He nearly fell off the bookshelf in his agitation. Winky squeaked a protest.

"As if Dobby cares what is expensive to Professor Dumbledore, Dobby who is making a Galleon a week. If –" Winky froze, then whispered, "Someone is coming!"

She and Dobby made themselves invisible at once, and edged forward. A pair of students were creeping between the rows – a girl and a boy. They were not creeping very well, in Dobby's opinion, for they kept on laughing, and sometimes they would make snorting noises in order to keep quiet.

"Sh!" the girl said, as the boy let out a particularly loud guffaw. She pressed a finger to his lips. "We're going to get caught."

"I don't care," he said, pulling her against him and tangling his fingers in her hair. It was very long, and red like Harry Potter's friend's. "You're worth a couple of detentions."

"Well you're not, you little – mph!"

Dobby and Winky shut their eyes so as not to watch the girl and the boy kissing. Then they were giggling again.

"Dean – wait, Dean, we've got to go – we've got practice tomorrow morning! Harry'll kill us if we're tired," she warned.

"No he won't," Dean said, not letting go of her. "Five more minutes."

"No."

"Three?"

"No! Dean, I'm telling you, we've got a game coming up. Harry will be so disappointed if we lose."

"Well if _Harry_ would be disappointed," Dean said. Then, to lighten the jealous words, he added, "As if he'd care. You've got the team wrapped around your little finger, you minx."

She stifled a laugh.

"Ferret," he tried.

"Ew! Not that."

"If you were the ferret we _would_ lose our next game," Dean said, laughing some more. "You'd be preening more than flying."

There was a long silence.

"I think he was dropped on his head as a child."

"Dean, you're stalling."

"Right, right. Harry wants you in bed."

The girl smacked him.

OxOxO

Draco fought with his big friends the next time Dobby was cleaning the Slytherin dorms. Dobby hid under one of the beds, dusting the floor now and then.

"I don't see why you care," Draco told them. "It's none of your business what I'm doing, and it's not your place to complain."

"We're your friends," one of them said. "We've got a right to know."

"It's okay, Crabbe," the other said, taking in Draco's mutinous expression. "Let's just –"

"Shut up, Goyle. Malfoy, we're going to be Marked soon, so you might as well tell us now or we'll hear it straight from the Dark Lord. Got it?"

"You think the Dark Lord will care? You don't get it, this has nothing to do with you and if you find out He'll –" Draco stopped himself, swallowed hard, then said, "I'm going to our Apparition lesson. I don't want to hear any more from either of you."

"Malfoy!" the one called Crabbe growled. He turned to Goyle. "We've got to get it out of him. I'm done sneaking around. I want to know what's going on."

"Malfoy knows what he's doing," Goyle said loyally. Crabbe smiled.

"Do you think so? I'm going after him."

Goyle threw up his hands as Crabbe left the room. Dobby hesitated for a moment, then followed.

Crabbe caught up with Draco in the Great Hall. The Apparition Instructor was lecturing the group, but Crabbe yanked Draco around to face him and they whispered angrily until they were told to be quiet. The moment they were able to speak again they did, louder than before.

"I'm sick of your games! How long are we going to be playing your stupid –"

"I don't know how much longer, all right? It's taking longer than I thought it would." Crabbe opened his mouth to retort, but Malfoy snapped, "Look, it's none of your business what I'm doing, Crabbe, you and Goyle just do as you're told and keep a lookout!"

"I tell my friends what I'm up to, if I want them to keep a lookout for me."

Dobby jumped and nearly cheered at the sound of Harry Potter's voice. He wished he could applaud Harry for bringing Draco down a notch. Draco was just as surprised to hear Harry as Dobby was; he spun around, reaching for his wand, but was cut off by a call for quiet. Soon the students were trying to Apparate, and there was no more talk.

Dobby went back to the Slytherin dorms, vowing that he would find a way to communicate with Harry.

XoXoXoX

**A/N: And that is chapter one! This story is intended to mirror the Half-Blood Prince as closely as possible, but with many exciting twists to make it, obviously, more exciting; and also because I don't see the point in rewriting the book (disclaimer alert! J.K. owns pretty much everything). I have to apologize right now for how rushed it is, and I'll probably be back to edit it later, but if you liked it let me know; if you didn't give me constructive criticism, or else press that friendly green 'back' button and find something else to read. If you sort of liked it keep reading, because stories grow and grow and grow...**


	2. Chapter 2: Elf Tails

Chapter Two: Elf Tails

It turned out that Dobby didn't need to find Harry. Within the month, Harry called him.

Dobby had been in the kitchens, talking to Winky about the ways he might be able to relay some information about Draco. Winky had thought it was a bad idea; but it was Kreacher who voiced Winky's unspoken opinion of Harry.

"Filthy Potter boy," he told Dobby, baring his cracked, yellowing teeth in a grin. "Disgraceful master, sniffing around my mistress's house, trying to make her glory less maj–"

Dobby launched himself at Kreacher, scratching and pummelling every bit of grimy flesh he could get his hands on. Peeves the poltergeist, sensing trouble, appeared next to them at once to increase the mayhem. It was at this opportune moment that Harry summoned Kreacher.

"What's going –?"

Dobby heard a voice but didn't register its source, focussed as he was on beating the stuffing out of Kreacher. "Kreacher will not insult Harry Potter in front of Dobby, no he won't, or Dobby will shut Kreacher's mouth for him!" shouted Dobby over the ruckus Peeves was making. Kreacher opened his mouth to retort, spat out the mouthful of chalk that Peeves had flung into it, and snarled,

"Kreacher will say what he likes about his master, oh yes, and what a master he is, filthy friend of Mudbloods, oh, what would poor Kreacher's mistress say –?"

Dobby had had enough. He punched Kreacher squarely in the mouth, knocking out half his teeth, and was trying to do more when Harry and Ron Weasley dragged the two apart.

"Right," Harry said, pinning Kreacher's arms behind his back. "Right – I'm forbidding you to fight each other! Well, Kreacher, you're forbidden to fight Dobby. Dobby, I know I'm not allowed to give you orders –"

"Dobby is a free house-elf and he can obey anyone he likes and Dobby will do whatever Harry Potter wants him to do!" Dobby squeaked.

"OK, then," said Harry, and they dropped the elves to the floor. Kreacher, grovelling in the most insolent fashion he could manage, wheezed out,

"Master called me?"

At that, Harry explained his task to the elves: follow Draco Malfoy, day and night. Dobby swelled with pride when he thought of Harry's cleverness. So he knew what Draco was up to! Or at least as much as Dobby did. Now Dobby had a chance to help Harry. He would follow Draco Malfoy until he collapsed from exhaustion, lack of food, and sheer irritation – after all, Draco was not a nice person. He was as stuck-up, as arrogant, and as self-centred as they came.

Dobby started that very night.

OxOxO

The first thing that Dobby watched Draco do was sleep.

Draco's dormitory was toward the back of the Slytherin dorms; a relatively sparse place, and damp. Dobby shivered as he looked around, wishing he could light a fire. This, however, would not be a good way to spy on Draco. Instead he huddled under a spare blanket in the closet and waited for Draco to awake.

At six o'clock in the morning the alarm went off. Draco, with much grumbling, stamped his feet into slippers and trudged to the bathroom. Dobby could hear him splashing water and brushing his teeth.

"Zabini!"

Blaise let out a muffled moan.

"Zabini!" Draco called again, more urgently. "Get up, we need to talk before breakfast."

"No one needs to talk before breakfast," Blaise mumbled, rolling onto his back and flinging off his blankets. He made no move to get up, though. "What the hell do we need to talk about that badly?"

The other boys were stirring now. Draco came into view, looking much more alert, and shook his head to indicate that he didn't want to discuss it in front of the others. Then, shucking off his shirt, he changed and went out.

Dobby hurried after him. For the first time Dobby saw that Kreacher was also there; a look of deepest admiration on his face as he gazed on Draco, who was staring off into space and absently scratching his chest. Dobby snorted.

"All right, what did you want?" Blaise came up behind Draco and slung an arm around him. Draco shrugged him off.

"Not here," he said. "On our way."

They walked off, talking in low voices. Dobby sped up to catch their words.

"… He's been after me for months now, but it's getting worse. You have to –"

"I've told you, no," Blaise snapped. "I'm not getting involved. You knew that from 'go'."

"Things have changed. Zabini, please, you don't…" He took a deep breath. "You don't know what He's going to do to me."

"I think I can figure it out," Blaise said dryly. "You have no idea how little I want to be the one He's after."

"So you'll just leave me to it?" Draco was sounding steadily more desperate.

"Pretty much. Yeah," Blaise said. Then, clapping Draco on the back, he said, "Buck up, mate. You'll get it done."

"I'll try," Draco said, his voice doubtful.

"When?"

"This afternoon. If you see Goyle, can you let him know I want to talk to him?"

Draco was much more composed when he entered the Great Hall. He couldn't hide the anxiety now imprinted on his face, but he could at least mask it with his usual haughty stare.

OxOxO

Dobby was used to travelling around the castle without being seen, so his task was an easy one. The classes, for the most part, were not interesting; Draco merely stared into space, occasionally taking notes or making smart remarks. In the evenings he did not study with his friends, instead collecting their completed assignments in the morning. After classes he would drop his things off in the Slytherin common room and go to the seventh floor with various other Slytherins.

The third day that this happened, Pansy intercepted him.

"Draco," she called after him, as he exited the common room. He paused for a moment, clearly not wanting to go back.

"What?" he snapped, then moderated his tone: "Do you need something?"

She stopped to catch her breath, resting her hand on his arm. "I feel like we haven't talked in a long time," she said, cautious.

"No, we haven't."

"What have you been up to?" she asked. He stiffened, and she immediately back-pedalled. "I'm not asking for details! Just, how have your classes been, how are you feeling… what did you have for lunch?" She laughed a little, watching him. He wasn't amused.

"Listen, Pan, I need to get some work done. Can we talk later?"

She nodded. "Of course. I'll be here."

"Great," he said, relieved. "Thanks." He hesitated, then dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you."

She sighed, watching him go.

OxOxO

Draco spent a long time on the seventh floor. When he got back Pansy was sleeping, her books spread across the floor. He crouched down and poked her. "Pan," he whispered.

She opened her eyes and, seeing him, sat up at once. "Hi."

"Sorry," he said, "but you said you wanted to talk…"

She pushed her things away so that he could sit next to her. He did so, and after a moment wrapped his arm around her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You," she said.

"Well that's too bad, because I want to talk about you." He rubbed his cheek against her hair. "Tell me about yourself."

"Well, I go to classes every day."

"What classes do you go to?"

"Potions… Herbology… Transfiguration." She craned her head around to see him smiling, and smiled back. "What classes do you go to?"

"Divination and Muggle Studies. The rest of them are dung. They won't get me where I need to go."

Pansy turned in his arms, inching closer to him as she spoke. "And where do you need to go?"

Draco looked into her eyes for a long moment. At first Dobby thought he wasn't going to answer; he was very still, frozen with his hands clasped behind her back. Then he moved away from her. "To bed. I'm tired." He stood up and left the room.

Pansy dropped back against the couch with a little cry.

OxOxO

The next afternoon Draco avoided Pansy, staying across the room from where she and Blaise were sitting. Dobby placed himself so that he could see Draco's scowling expression, but could hear Pansy and Blaise.

"I don't know what to do," she moaned. "I asked a simple question and he completely shut down."

"Did you want a simple answer?" Blaise asked. She pressed her mouth into a line and didn't answer.

Blaise sat tapping his quill against the table for a few minutes before he said, "Have you ever thought about following him?"

"Of course I have, but how hard would that be?" she snapped. "He disappears, I can never find him."

"You aren't following him closely enough, then."

"Well, have _you_ thought about it?"

"I don't have the time," he said at once.

"What are you doing tonight?"

Blaise kept his face blank, but she knew him well enough to read him. "Tell her you can't make it," Pansy said, "this is _Draco_."

Blaise nodded slowly. "All right, I'll try." He shot her a swift look before fixing his eyes back on the carpet. "Pansy, you'd better know what you're going to do when you find out."

XoXoXoX

**AN: Who is Blaise supposed to meet? Find out in the next chapter, when Snape tries to help Draco and Ginny makes a new friend! Also featured, Dumbledore's private basket-weaving courses.**

**R&R!**


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